Norway will allocate five million of Norwegian krone ($570,392) to support Russian spent nuclear fuel management, Policy Director of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry Anja Polden said to Media last weeks.
Norway will allocate five million of Norwegian krone ($570,392) to support Russian spent nuclear fuel management, Policy Director of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry Anja Polden said on Tuesday.
“For the first time, Norway will co-finance the management of spent nuclear fuel. This co-financing will be allocated to the part of the project for which we are provided with an environmental impact assessment … This year, five million Norwegian krone will be allocated for co-financing of this project,” Polden told reporters during the session of the Norwegian-Russian Expert group for investigation of radioactive contamination in the northern areas that is being held in Sochi.
She also stressed that co-financing requires special criteria, including approved risk analyzes and an environmental impact assessment of those projects that may influence the environment.
The pilot project of spent nuclear fuel management will take place in the Andreev Bay in the north of Russia. If the project proves successful, its experience will be used for other ones, Polden said.
According to her, all work will be done by the Russian side that will also take nuclear responsibility. Norway will get access to monitoring the whole process, which implies getting access to the facilities and documentation on how this work is done.
The Andreev Bay may not be selected by chance as a nuclear accident took place there at Soviet naval base 569 in February 1982. At the moment, the Andreev Bay is a radioactive waste repository, located not far from northwest of Murmansk and the Norwegian border.
(urdupoint)
